Walter Lafferty

Abraham Walter Lafferty (10 June 1875-15 January 1964) was a member of the US House of Representatives (R-OR 2) from 4 March 1911 to 3 March 1913 (succeeding William R. Ellis and preceding Nicholas J. Sinnott) and from OR-3 from 4 March 1913 to 3 March 1915 (preceding Clifton N. McArthur).

Biography
Abraham Walter Lafferty was born in Farber, Missouri in 1875, and he became a lawyer in Montgomery City in 1896. He served as Montgomery County prosecuting attorney from 1902 to 1904, and he moved to Oregon to serve as special agent for the Department of the Interior's Land Office in Portland in 1905. In 1907, he became famous for fighting against the O&C Railroad company's corrupt distribution of its lands to private investors rather than to the state, and, in 1910, he used this fame to be elected to the US House of Representatives as a progressive Republican who supported equal suffrage for men and women and took on the powerful railroad companies. In 1914, he lost his party primary to Clifton N. McArthur, and he lost for election in 1914 and 1916 as an independent progressive. He continued to fight against the O&C Railroad, racking up legal expenses which he could not pay off. In 1950, 1952, 1954, and 1956, he launched failed Republican bids for the US Congress, and he died in 1964 with considerable debts.